Katz-Moses Magnetic Dovetail jig

[Art]

I've never done any hand cut dovetails, so I figured I would give it a try. My first few attempts went as expected, which is to say embarassing.  When starting this, I also know, however, that I would be getting some sort of dovetail guide or jig.  The main reason I tried without any assistance was mainly to see how a novice like myself could do both with and without a guide.  Needless to say, I am sold on using the jig. 

I initially looked around to see what was on the market, and was close to buying the Veritas magnetic guide, mainly because I pretty much buy everything from Lee Valley, but I found a few online reviews of the Katz-Moses Magnetic Dovetail jig: http://www.katzmoseswoodworking.com/new-products/81-clear-urethane-katz-moses-magnetic-dovetail-jig-and-90-degree-crosscut-guide

I ended up buying this for 2 reasons: 1) it was the cheapest (~$45 CAD after shipping) of the ones I could find (relative to Lee Valley and Barron), and 2) it has guides for tails, pins and shoulders all on the same jig - this is the only jig on the market that has all of these.

I received it a few days ago, and today got a chance to give it a go.  Overall, I'm very happy with it.  These are the first two practice joints I made (in poplar that is about 1" thick):

They are by no means perfect and are little gappy in places, but that is not the fault of the jig.  Using the jig allows you to cut straight and plumb, but you still have to cut to your marking line, you still have to chisel out the waste, etc.  I just need more practice.

Overall, I'm happy with it and would certainly recommend this jig for anyone who wants to simplify (and cheat a little) the process of making hand cut dovetails.

[Ronn W]

To improve your cutting accuracy, Try using an exacto knife to scribe you lines and then set your saw so that one side of the blade (tips of the teeth) are right in the scribe.  Everyone has their own favorite way of marking for dovetails.  Have fun.

[jplemons]

I just got one in the mail to try out and have the Barron one as well. If you haven’t seen this video, it’s a pretty good demo by Katz-Moses. 

 

 

[Dennis O'Shea]

I have had one for a few months and after some major trial and error I feel really comfortable with it.I won't bore you guys with the screw ups here's one of my most recent attempts  

[Tom King]

On 2/7/2018 at 12:47 PM, Ronn W said:

To improve your cutting accuracy, Try using an exacto knife to scribe you lines and then set your saw so that one side of the blade (tips of the teeth) are right in the scribe.  Everyone has their own favorite way of marking for dovetails.  Have fun.

I know that there are a lot of people who do it this way, but I was never smart enough to be able to get perfectly tight fitting joints like this.   The scribed line has some width, and putting a saw tooth, or chisel, in the line, takes part of the line.   I mark with a really fine tipped pencil, and leave the line on the second part cut.  

[LazarusDB]

I was just looking at these yesterday. Think I’m going to order one.

Thanks.